Category: Kosmorama

Last night we went over to Credo Restaurant to check out the Kulinarisk Kino programme Kosmorama had organized.

The film was Wasted, which talked about food waste in contemporary society and also highlighted people, programmes, and things everyone can do at home in order to reduce waste.

The movie was both entertaining and eye-opening. It was nicely balanced between talking about how bad things are and also how things are being done to alleviate the bad things. And it certainly had me taking a look at my own habits and thinking about what I could change.

Served with the movie was a delicious cup of soup from Credo that was made entirely from leftover/scraps from the cooking process. I couldn’t tell you exactly what kind of soup it was, but it was delicious.

After the movie, Heidi Bjerkan got up and spoke about the ethos of Credo, and how it is continuously trying to reduce waste in the restaurant. She also talked about a lot of the work they do with partners that supply the restaurant to do the same thing.

The movie has been out for awhile, but I had not yet watched it and I certainly recommend it for anyone who hasn’t. And we also recommended booking a table at Credo.

The List’s contributor Zane Datava joined the crows for Kosmorama’s opening film yesterday. Here is what she had to say:

On Tuesday night after a sunny day in Trondheim, which brought a slight promise of spring, Prinsens Kino was filled with a cheerful atmosphere, plenty of marzipan cake, and loads of eager cinema lovers; regardless of the ice and snow on the streets.

No other opening film in the history of the Kosmorama has had so much attention surrounding it, as organisers mentioned before the film started. Almost all showings throughout the rest of the week are already sold out. To use the words of one of the narrators from the film: “what could be more exciting than to see ourselves”!

The film is full of love and appreciation for Trondhjem. It is colorful and nuanced and shows the city and its people through good times and bad, through struggles and joys. It is made from archived materials from Trondheim from 1906-1980 and illuminates the city through the stories of its people: Liv Ullmann, Odd Reitan, Håkon Bleken among others.

The List was at Kosmorama’s Kanonprisen last night, and let me tell you, it’s hard work writing this post right now. The big winner on the night was clearly the fjord wave disaster flick Bølgen, which picked up four awards, but the biggest loser was my head. It was a good party!

Family drama Louder than Bombs picked up two awards, including best script. Special recognition should go to ‘Den Tilfeldige Rockestjernen’, the documentary about Kaizers Orchestra which won the Kosmorama prize.

Also kudos to Kosmorama for putting on an amazing show. There were some incredible musical performances, including a wonderful cover of Bowie’s Life on Mars, by Gammelgrass. I’d definitely recommend next year’s award ceremony to anyone who is interested in cinema or music, though not if you have an early start on Friday morning!

The List was also happy to share the company of some of our samarbeid partners; Technoport, Teekay and NordØst. We ate at Mathallen beforehand, which was delicious as always. Hope you all enjoyed yourselves as much as we did.

Is this the best Kosmorama festival ever? It certainly feels like it, and we are just barely half way through. Our pick of today’s films is a classic. In collaboration with Meta.Morf 2016, Kosmorama delivers an exclusive screening of the 1968 sci-fi epic 2001: A Space Odyssey, by Stanley Kubric. And check this out, the photographic special effects advisor of the movie, inventor and director, Douglas Trumbell, will be there in person to introduce the movie! This is the guy who basically won Kubric the Best Visual Effects Oscar in ’69 – what an honour to have him here in Trondheim.

He will also be the keynote speaker at Meta-Morf’s conference tomorrow – check out the full programme here.

The Devil’s Candy
Last night I took advantage of Kosmorama’s collaboration with Oppdal-based horror film festival, Ramaskrik, and caught a late viewing of The Devil’s Candy, by director Sean Byrne. The film was as lean as the lead actor, an Iggy Pop-esque Ethan Embry, and as slick as the paintings he creates in the barn of his family’s huge new Texas home.

It’s a story of new beginnings and opportunity, the American dream and to-cheap-to-be-true property. Astrid and and Jesse, and their teenage daughter Zooey, snap up a bargain when the previous owners are murdered by their deranged son. Set to a backdrop of heavy metal riffs and with a back story of death and incarceration; this is a move which has disaster written all over it.

The Devil’s Candy calls upon classic home invasion tactics and is horrific in large fistfuls. It threatens to disgust on several occasions and is certainly no nursery rhyme, but slightly misses the mark in my opinion. Clumsily edited at times and a slave to it’s own implausibility. The returning son’s offscreen misdemeanours require a suspension of belief I wasn’t quite prepared to make. He’s got a record as fat as his belly and a kids are going missing as he feed the devil his ‘candy’, hello 911? And there is a Shining-type transformation going on with the dad Jesse, which wasn’t fully realised. But hey, it was late, it was bloody, there was fire and the sound track is still reverberating around my skull this morning. Definitely one for genre fans – catch the next viewing Saturday 8pm, NOVA 3.
It also inspired me to check out some more of what Ramaskrik has to offer, so I chatted with Sølvi from the festival:

“The Devil’s Candy is one of the six films we have picked out for this year’s Ramaskrik at Kosmorama. These films are separate from our programme at Oppdal in the autumn, where we are showing another 20-25 films. Actually, Ramaskrik Oppdal was started by a few people working at Kosmorama at the time, back in 2011, in collaboration with the cinema manager in Oppdal. Some of us still work at both festivals, and we love getting the chance to show scary movies twice a year!”

At last year’s festival it wasn’t just the bears doing their business in the woods, as the film festival did a screening of Villmark 2 in the forrest, which was a huge scream-laden success! I asked Sølvi if they have any plans for similar themed screenings this year?

“When we come out of our long Easter sleep after Kosmorama, we will start thinking about this year’s Ramaskrik Oppdal, I am really looking forward to starting the research on new horror films from all over the world! And maybe some ideas will pop up about perfect Oppdal locations outside the cinema. If anyone has any great ideas about interesting and perhaps unusual locations, please get in touch.”London Road
So we asked Sølvi for her tips for today and she picked out London Road, a documentary musical with Olivia Colman, about the murder of five prostitutes in Ipswich in 2006, directed by the guy behind Broken (the movie, not the crime!). This one has been highly recommended so make sure you get along early for today’s showing or book ahead for Saturday evening.

London Road, 2pm Thursday 10 March, NOVA 5.

Tonight we will be at the film festival’s annual awards show, Kanonprisen, to celebrate the best in norwegina cinema. Check out Jaya’s blog tomorrow!

Tuesday was an exciting opening day at Kosmorama! Carol, the opening film, sold out in advance, and the staff added an extra screening in a neighbouring theater, which filled up completely. Director of Kosmorama Silje Engeness said earlier that she always remembers it’s more fun to watch a film with other people during Kosmorama, and that feels true to me too; especially an audience that’s really there to pay attention and fall in love with the film, and a full house to boot. There was a lot of energy in Nova, and when I was walking there, from a few blocks away, it seemed like everyone on the street was headed to Nova for Carol.Silje Engeness_Kosmorama Director – photo by Eno Chege
Carol was a breathtaking, tragic film about forbidden love in New York in the 1950s. It seemed to have a very positive reception with the audience, who really laughed and cried together. Many people stayed after Carol to see London Road, a documentary musical, or other films like Spotlight, an American blockbuster and Oscar winner. When I left the theater last night, there were still lots of people hanging out and buying tickets for films later in the evening. People also seemed to be heavily anticipating Welcome to Norway tomorrow evening, which was directed by Rune Langlo, from Trondheim. Overall, a very exciting start to Kosmorama!Welcome to Norway

Which now leads us to today! The buzz around town is that today is a day not to miss for the Kosmorama week. In addition to Welcome to Norway as mentioned above, today brings us the premiere of Let Them Come. Adapted from a novel, the film explores the “dark decade” that occurred in Algeria during the 1990s and is sure to be a moving experience. Also today, be sure not to miss the Kosmorama showing of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars, paying tribute to the late David Bowie.Let Them Come

Something I’m very much looking forward to for today is The Fear of 13, which claims to be a film for fans of shows like Making A Murderer or the podcast Serial. Needless to say, I cannot wait. So maybe I’ll see you there for that, or if not, I hope you get out there and enjoy the second day of the festival and everything it has to offer!Ziggy Stardust

Well Listers, it’s official…Kosmorama, Trondheim’s international film festival is coming for our viewing pleasure this week! Your inner cinephile can hardly wait! So what exactly is Kosmorama, you might ask? Kosmorama is a six-day film festival which will be happening from March 8-13, mostly in Trondheim’s Kinosenter. The festival consists of the screenings of more than 70 films – some obscure, some mainstream, some for kids and some for adults.

Besides the movie screenings, there will be guest speakers, seminars, parties, a quiz night and activities for kids. During the day on Saturday and Sunday, there will be a free exhibition in the Nova foyer where kids can explore an app made by Ablemagic in Trondheim.

If you feel like learning, several seminars will be accessible for free. Amnesty: Human Rights and Terrorism will be free on Thursday evening at the library. Film buffs may want to join Friday & Saturday night’s film quiz (in Norwegian). The festival will screen several classic movies including Fargo, Singin’ in the Rain, Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars, and 2001: A Space Odyssey. 2001: A Space Odyssey will include a presentation by Douglas Trumbull, who supervised the special photographic effects of the film. Other highly anticipated films include The Idol about a man from Gaza who won Arab Idol in 2012, Carol, Cate Blanchett’s Oscar-nominated New York romance, Spotlight, the star-studded drama about investigative journalism, and Welcome to Norway, a dark comedy about a racist hotel-owner who sets up an asylum centre to save his business.

Many of the films have subtitles and most have multiple showings. What’s great is that many international films have English subtitles, which means that those of us who are not great at reading Norwegian get a chance to see some fantastic world
cinema. Inside information tells us Wednesday is the day not to miss. Check out Kosmorama.no or our programme in the current issue of The List for screening times and more information on the films.